Hopefully FVV can do what CP3 did for Shai. Hopefully we stop playing Amen with FVV and just let Amen take over the more comfortable he gets. We try to play him as SG or point toward too much
There's so much to love about Amen -- the size, athleticism and versatility. Ime already trusts him as a defender. He will fill up a box score and threaten for a lot of triple-doubles. You saw that tonight with the increased playing time. I'm hoping we see progress as a point guard. But I've never seen a shooting weakness this bad in a player. NBA defenses are already not covering him 5-8 feet inside the three-point line, which severely limits his driving ability when defenders can sag that much.
Don’t look now, but he has made 14 of his last 16 free throws. If that jumper ever comes, my god. Kid looks like an up and coming superstar... 1. Amen 2. Shooting and Defense 3. Shooting and Defense 4. Jabari 5. Alperen Exciting time to be a Rocket fan. I know he didn’t shoot well again today, but it seemed to me that JG was getting some more transition looks next to Amen. We had a nice mix of speed with Alperen trailing the play, too… Wish we could have seen Jabari with this group.
Yeah his freethrows actually looks fine, it's just he can't extend that. Maybe it's just body mechanics, just born not being able to shoot 3's
The people who are saying he can get away with a mid range shot and a bad 3pt shot are dreaming. That's way in the past now, it's not a conversation anymore. A Russell Westbrook repeat would not be as good as Past Russell Westbrook in this NBA. Ben Simmons slowly became irrelevant. We can't play with fire here especially since we have the luxury of not needing minutes from him urgently. This kid has a promising future but there's one glaring hole in his development. In every other category, he's competitive with his best peers. Believe me he's so far from being a good shooter that we have a lot of catching up to do. On both his 3PT% and FT%. Spending time on his midrange shot will take forever and will take time away from something we can get out of the way early rather than letting it plague his career. This guy is some type of genius, the way he plays is extremely intelligent for his experience level. Defense, rebounding, assists and finishing at the basket all just need polish. The chess move here is go all in on the shot that would immediately put him in "star" conversation. Willing to be super patient with them building his 3PT shot from scratch. We have a staff that should be good at developing shooting and rounding out his game. Take 2 whole years, as long as he's a passable 3PT shooter (let's say 35% on 3+ attempts) in year 3 we are golden. Once his 3PT shot has momentum, then we can think about things like mid range jumper. One his 3PT shot has momentum, he will already be in the conversation as one of the best young PG's in the NBA. Also important: we have to give him the ball more when he's playing off the bench. This was a really good step forward in understanding we can trust him more as backup PG. A lot of times he's out there off ball and that's just not fair, for sure that will make him look bad. He can run a faster pace for the bench, that can benefit the team hugely. Looking forward to what he can give us in the second half.
Very impressive. I think he can be a PG, his vision is amazing. Im curious to see how his shooting develops this off season.
Hopefully his shooting DOES develop, and we don't see another Shaun Livingston Every player is unique. Personally I am high on Amen developing a passable shot, and becoming a star player in the NBA - he has everything else, just needs that shot. An important off-season coming up!
I don't even think he needs to be that good of a shooter--he just needs to be a threat to get hot. SGA is shooting 32.6% this season, his average over the past three is 31.8%. Luka was already starting to dominate in year 2 at 31.6%. Jimmy Butler has always been a poor shooter who could occasionally turn in a good season--career average 32.5%, with three of his last five seasons actually being under 25%. Amen can't shoot this poorly going forward, he has to get a lot better, but it doesn't have to become a major weapon. He just needs to be a guy you can't play this far off of and get away with it. Gotta hit around a league-average clip when they leave you wide open is all.
I think you're talking about the minimum that he needs to achieve, and I'm talking about what he needs to achieve in order to have a great career being worth the max. Yes if he's as efficient and prolific as Luka Doncic or SGA inside the arc, then he can shoot 32% on a large volume. We're the ones responsible for developing him, why would we set the pressure so high on his game? He doesn't have to be elite at all, but he has to be good so that he is not guarded with more space when he wants to drive. These things are linked to each other. If he adds a 3pt shot and nothing else, he is already a plus offensive player. We should get that out of the way early imo and not give him time getting used to that shot. I think this coming summer will be the most pivotal.
If Jalen was 6'7" with a 7'0" wingspan and was already a good defender, passer, and rebounder shooting 75% in the painted area, I wouldn't mind that his 3P efficiency is lacking--but he has none of those attributes going for him. When his shot isn't falling he's providing very little to the team.
JG been in tougher situation then every player named 1st year - Kevin Porter , CWood EG and Silas (Lucas changing his shot and attempting to speed it up) 2nd year - takes step forward in playmaking / PnR 3rd year - new shooting coach, new system , new HC He’s placed in wrong positions on offense - you would think as analytical as the Rockets are they would notice that majority of his shots are coming from areas he’s never shot well in Example : Boston sticks Hauser Prichard and White in their highest % areas (like Rockets used to do PJ Tucker) https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/jalen-green-shot-chart-2022
Amen already does everything except shoot better than Jalen Green as a rookie and people were asking if he was a bust while still holding out hope for Jalen. Just incredible.
I am still hoping that JG is a super late bloomer and that Amen can help him along. JG did look a lot better last night, IMO, aside from the three-point shot-making. Amen needs his fast break buddy, and maybe JG can bring that and play in more open space. Alperen can trot his ass down like Kareem or get some rest.
